Florida deer

I have a friend in rural north Florida who takes terrific wildlife photos. Here is her latest prize. Ain't he cute?

Air Force One in Florida

This morning we saw Air Force One land at our local airport. President Bush was in town to campaign for Vern Buchanan who is running for a seat in the House of Representatives. The place for the large meeting was just across the street from where I do volunteer work once a week. The security was so tight they closed the road while the plane landed and wouldn't let anyone be outside. I took these pictures from a few blocks down the street where a crowd gathered to watch the huge plane land. The last time the President and Air Force One was at our airport was the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. I was there that day too watching the plane land and take off on what turned out to be a terrible day in our history.

Jeweled Manatee

Here is one more manatee from the airport. This was my favorite one with all the jewels covering it. Very colorful and bright.


Bye, Aaron!

Photo Friday: Innocence

This little cat with big eyes is Annie, like in "Little Orphan Annie". Pets can be so sweet and innocent. Our family is so original at naming pets that we also have a dog named "Sandy". LOL

Another manatee

Here is another brightly colored manatee at the airport.

Manatee

We were at the airport recently and saw these decorated manatees on display. I thought they were so colorful and cute. They are about 6 feet tall standing on their tails. If you don't live in Florida you may not know too much about manatees. They are an endangered mammal that lives in our waters. In fact I live in Manatee County. We love manatees!




Click below to read more about manatees.


www.geocities.com/heartland/5960/manatee.html

Photo Friday: Destruction

This is a picture taken in New Mexico by my son on a hike in the Rocky Mountains with the Boy Scouts. It is a plane that crashed 18 years ago. After an investigation of the crash just about all the wreckage was left where it was because it is so high on the mountain that it would have been very difficult to carry it all down the trail. Unfortunately the two men on the plane both died in the crash.

Lady Fish?

Here is a lady fish we saw at the Florida Aquarium. LOL No, she was vacuuming the tank. It wasn't a very big tank so she had to move around with the breathing gear and even an audience watching.





Happy Birthday, Andrea!!!

Lion Fish

Here is a beautiful fish that is also poisonous and dangerous. They are not native to Florida, but they had one at the aquarium. Click below for more info about these fish to watch out for.


library.thinkquest.org/C007974/2_1lio.htm

Photo Friday: Thin

I think this is a little shrimp of some kind that we saw at the aquarium. I thought it had long and thin feelers.


Happy Birthday, Faith!!!

We Found Nemo!

Here is Nemo and a few of his friends at the Florida Aquarium. They are really called Clown fish.

Florida Lobster

Here is a tasty treat from Florida. You can tell it is a Florida lobster and not one from Maine because it has no large front claws. All the meat is in the tail, but tastes just as good. Although this fellow is a resident of the aquarium and is not scheduled for anyone's dinner.

Alligator attack?

I thought this was a funny picture. I was trying to get a shot of a gator swimming under water. When I looked at the picture later it looked like the gator was trying to get the kids. Be assured that the kids are on the outside of the tank and the gator is inside. LOL

Leaf Dragon

We went to the Florida Aquarium in Tampa recently. It is a very nice aquarium with lots of great sea life and birds. My favorite creatures and the most unusual are the leaf dragons from Australia. They look like sea horses that are covered with leaves. The leaves are part of the animals and not something they picked up in the water to wear. They are amazing. They swim slowly through the water. It was hard to get a picture since the aquarium doesn't want people to use a flash which would scare the leaf dragons. All of my pictures came out blurry except this one. For more about the Florida Aquarium and leaf dragons click here.


www.flaquarium.org